CANR
WORK TITLE: The Bomb Maker
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 8/7/1947
WEBSITE: http://www.thomasperryauthor.com/
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CA 213, CANR 320, LRC 2009
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Thomas-Perry/36532868906?ref=ts
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 7, 1947, in Tonawanda, NY; son of Richard and Elizabeth Perry; married second wife, Jo Anne Lee (a writer), August 31, 1980; children: Alix Elizabeth, Ian Richard.
EDUCATION:Cornell University, B.A., 1969; University of Rochester, Ph.D., 1974.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist. Commercial fisherman, 1974-75; University of California, Santa Barbara, assistant to provost of College of Creative Studies, 1975-80; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, assistant coordinator of education program, 1980-84; television writer, 1984-89, principally for Simon & Simon. Has also worked as a weapons mechanic, park maintenance man and factory laborer.
MIILITARY:U.S. Air National Guard.
MEMBER:International Association of Crime Writers, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America.
AWARDS:Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, and silver medal, Commonwealth Club of California, both 1983, both for The Butcher’s Boy; Gumshoe Award, 2002, for Pursuit; 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century citation, Independent Mystery Bookseller’s Association, for Vanishing Act; 100 Killer Thrillers—Best Thrillers Ever citation, National Public Radio, for Metzger’s Dog; Notable Crime Book citations, New York Times, 2010, for Strip, and 2011, for The Informant.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Known for his sophisticated, humorous crime novels, Thomas Perry is considered especially talented at inviting readers to sympathize with shrewd, unprincipled murderers. Washington Post Book World contributor Lawrence Block described Perry as “a writer of much imagination and considerable skill. He handles action nicely, schemes cleverly, and allows his characters to kill without a second thought whenever they find it expedient to do so. All the same one warms to his people.” Before becoming a crime writer, Perry studied popular novels and concluded that successful authors shared the same objectives: to make readers laugh, cry, and feel suspense. This approach helped Perry establish himself in the popular market, and has enabled him to garner favorable reviews from critics.
Perry made his debut in 1982 with the critically acclaimed detective novel The Butcher’s Boy. The book was actually Perry’s third; he initially tried writing science fiction and adventure books, but he felt this detective thriller was the first one good enough to be submitted for publication. Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel, The Butcher’s Boy follows both U.S. Justice Department analyst Elizabeth Waring and the object of her investigation, “the butcher’s boy.” She is a sharp, young computer analyst; he is a cool, calculating killer named after his mentor. After the butcher’s boy receives permanent facial scars from a back-alley skirmish, the Las Vegas Mafia boss who hired him to kill a senator wants the butcher’s boy killed, fearing that the hit man’s identifiable scars will enable police to track him down, and his boss as well. The butcher’s boy is forced to use all of his professional skills and street savvy to dodge both the Justice Department and the Mafia. Critics lauded the book’s alternating points of view between Waring and the butcher’s boy, asserting that the technique encourages the reader to side with both hero and villain. In addition, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in the New York Times called the book “clever, knowledgeable, inventive, and suspenseful.” Washington Post Book World contributor Jean M. White judged it “a stunning debut” and “a brilliantly-plotted thriller.”
In Sleeping Dogs, Perry resurrects his hit-man protagonist and, in the words of a Kirkus Reviews writer, “sends him on a brawny, bloody vendetta whose rare humor is determinedly dark, even dour.” The story begins when the retired killer is forced back into action when a young Mafia leader recognizes him. Killings abound as the butcher’s boy protects his own life. “All this gore-giddy mayhem is tethered by rich details of hit-man procedure and by flashbacks of the Butcher’s Boy apprentice days,” approved the Kirkus Reviews contributor. Lehmann-Haupt lauded the author’s “high-pitched energy and gleeful sadism,” and noted in his New York Times review that although the book’s hero is a killer, “we can identify with him for any number of reasons.” An Armchair Detective critic also noted the skill with which Perry “succeeds in making his mass murderer into a sympathetic character,” and rated Sleeping Dogs “a tale of driving suspense and pell-mell action.”
Nineteen years after publishing Sleeping Dogs, Perry revisited the butcher’s boy character in The Informant. Using his alias Michael Schaeffer, the butcher’s boy once again encounters Justice Department agent Waring. This time, Waring hopes to flip the butcher’s boy, turning him from hit man to informant. Waring’s target has no intention of working for the “good guys,” but now that he has retired, he has no intention of working for the “bad guys” either. Tired of convincing the mafia that he is not a government agent, Schaeffer relies on his skills instead. Waring chases the assassin across the country as he murders the capos of every major mob family he has worked with. The FBI joins the case as well, treating the butcher’s boy as if he is a serial killer who focuses only on made men. The tension between the butcher’s boy and Waring “supplies the counterpoint that keeps these books so gripping,” Janet Maslin observed in the New York Times Book Review. “Perry creates a delicate dance between these two”; they “have cat-and-moused each other through earlier books in the series, but their connection becomes especially intense this time.” Maslin went on to conclude: “In the hands of a lesser crime writer, the zigzagging cross-country path that The Informant takes might seem arbitrary and forced. But Mr. Perry is so good at what he does that The Informant unfolds in a completely reasonable, inexorable way, jolted forward by one suspenseful showdown after another.”
Most reviewers shared Maslin’s high opinion of The Informant, calling it an expertly plotted and tensely written thriller. A Kirkus Reviews critic found that “beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry’s relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it.” A Men Reading Books Web site contributor was somewhat ambivalent, but ultimately concluded: “I think I like the concept behind this series, the plotting (OK, there are a few leaps of faith that may seem a bit far fetched), and the character development.” Lauding the book more enthusiastically in Publishers Weekly, a critic stated that the author “offers a compelling, rapid-fire plot, credible Mafia and FBI secondary characters, an indictment of self-serving officialdom.” Ron Terpening, writing in Library Journal, was equally impressed, calling Perry “a consummate craftsman. No one makes killing bad guys more fun, no one is smarter at blending research and invention.”
Metzger’s Dog follows the exploits of a California gang consisting of Vietnam veteran Chinese Gordon, his girlfriend, and two other friends. In the process of stealing a million dollars’ worth of cocaine from a university laboratory, the gang also takes a top-secret government document concerning U.S. involvement in South and Central America. After selling the cocaine back to its original owner, Gordon and his friends decide to sell the document to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for five million dollars. The CIA suspects Soviet agents are involved, so they refuse to pay; instead, they spend thirty-five million dollars pursuing the gang. The action culminates in Los Angeles, where the gang shuts down the city’s highway and telephone systems in order to persuade the CIA to pay the ransom for the document. Lehmann-Haupt, in another New York Times review, pointed out that “the C.I.A. is just monstrous enough to keep us rooting for Gordon and his gang,” and he concluded that readers “come away from Metzger’s Dog having had a thoroughly enjoyable time.” Washington Post Book World contributor Block also enjoyed Metzger’s Dog, stating: “Perry’s writing is clean and crisp and lively, his California sets vivid, his characters at once wacky and toughminded, his plot a wondrous construction.”
Big Fish also begins in Los Angeles but later takes the reader to Mexico, Japan, Belgium, and England. Published in 1985, the novel revolves around a husband-and-wife team who put their gunrunning business on hold to help a neighbor, a Hollywood agent, recover his losses from a spoiled cocaine deal. Once he retrieves his money, the agent and a famous film director join the couple in their business. The four characters are soon involved in a chase around the world after a Japanese client who poses a global nuclear threat. Some critics charged that the novel lacks tension and, in the estimation of Dick Lochte in the Los Angeles Times, “is neither good enough nor moral enough.” Other reviewers, nevertheless, lauded the book’s humor, fast action, and intelligent dialogue.
Island, Perry’s third stand-alone novel, features married thieves Harry and Emma Erskine, who go into hiding in the Caribbean islands after stealing five hundred thousand dollars. While there Harry decides to create an island-country, complete with banks, resorts, and golf courses, as a sanctuary for people like the Erskines who have a lot of illegitimate money. The idea, which entails filling in a shallow coral reef region with tons of dirt, works until the outside world discovers how much money the island attracts. As word gets out, the United Nations, the CIA, the U.S. State Department, and various bankers get involved in the action. “With the greatest amiability,” wrote George V. Higgins in the Chicago Tribune Books, “Perry makes fun of virtually all the values that teachers said we should hold dear, persuasively demonstrating that: crime pays … resourcefulness is all; and the loyalty of a few good friends who are willing to rise above principle … is money in the bank.” With its engaging adventure and sympathetic criminals, Island incorporates the literary techniques that first brought Perry critical acclaim. Like his other novels, Island was favorably received by critics, including Newgate Callendar, who in the New York Times Book Review called the book “a rattling good adventure story” that is “wacky, imaginative, funny, serious and altogether different.”
In Death Benefits, Perry, “who never met a field he couldn’t make breathlessly exciting, turns his hand to the insurance business, with hair-raising results,” in the words of a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The story concerns Max Stillman, a security consultant on a high-priced insurance investigation, and his less-experienced assistant, John Walker. Walker is stunned by the sweeping scheme exposed by Stillman, and readers may be equally astounded, as Perry springs “so many surprises that it’s impossible to tell from chapter to chapter—sometimes from line to line—what’s around the next corner,” stated the reviewer. “Perry displays a matchless gift for keeping both his hero and his readers beautifully off-balance.”
The award-winning novel Pursuit finds criminologist Dan Millikan and investigator Roy Prescott on the case after thirteen people are killed in a Kentucky restaurant by contract killer James Verney. A Publishers Weekly reviewer dubbed the thriller “an elaborate cat-and-mouse game that moves from city to city … as the body count continues to rise.” Booklist correspondent Carrie Bissey characterized Pursuit as “a compulsive page-turner populated with characters living amid the shades of gray that surround right and wrong.”
Perry introduces a unique new character in his 1995 book, Vanishing Act. Jane Whitefield is a Seneca native from upstate New York who works as a “guide,” someone who helps people in danger to disappear, take up a new identity, and escape their troubles. In Vanishing Act, she first aids a woman who is fleeing her sadistic husband, then becomes involved with an ex-policeman-turned-accountant who is on the run after being framed for embezzlement. “Perry’s brisk style lets Jane travel light and carry the heavy stuff in her head,” confided Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times. “Tracking the bad guy through the Adirondacks, she proves a relentless hunter who can flush out her quarry with only a bow and arrow.” Lehmann-Haupt, writing again in the New York Times, called Vanishing Act “complicated but ultimately gratifying,” and drew attention to Perry’s accomplishment in creating the Whitefield character. “Despite her remarkable savvy, much of what Jane Whitefield feels depends on her cultural heritage as an Indian. This is by and large not sentimentalized,” Lehmann-Haupt added, concluding: “Text and subtext interplay in what turns out to be a challenging and satisfying thriller.”
Perry reprises the Whitefield character in Dance for the Dead, described as “an explosive second outing for Jane Whitefield” by a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The book, in the critic’s estimation, is “truly a treasure,” and Perry “peerlessly devious.” Pat Dowell in the Washington Post Book World referred to Whitefield as a “new mystery superstar,” and reported that Perry had several more novels featuring the character underway. Dowell noted: “Nobody writes a chase better than Perry, and Jane’s adventures are all chase, all the time. Nevertheless … she seems a trifle too commercially calculated at times—she hits all the right trends, as both a woman sleuth and a mysterioso Native American with uncanny powers and serene wisdom.” Dick Lochte in Los Angeles Times Book Review was wholehearted in endorsing Dance for the Dead. “Jane Whitefield is something quite unique,” Lochte said, adding that Dance for the Dead “concentrates on the chase, with a bountiful assortment of twists and turns, deceptions and diversions. One couldn’t ask for a more exciting and exhilarating game of hide and seek.”
In Blood Money, Whitefield is attempting to put her dangerous past behind her. She has married and settled in a quiet area of upstate New York, hoping to set down some roots. But she is unable to say no to a teenage girl in trouble who shows up at her door on the run from the Mafia. The girl has been a housekeeper and friend to Bernie Lupus, star accountant for the Mob. Bernie fakes his own death when he realizes he is about to be replaced by a computer and probably murdered. The trio sets off on a cross-country trip in an attempt to give away fourteen billion dollars in Mafia money that they have cleverly accessed through Bernie’s expertise. The plot is “complex and pleasurably convoluted, quirkily original … and never quite convincing,” according to Tom De Haven in Entertainment Weekly. Library Journal reviewer Terpening advised, however, that “even readers who find the setup far-fetched will enjoy the fast pace of this entertaining thriller with its resourceful heroine, fascinating characters, convincing development of intrigue, and ever-present menace.”
Shadow Woman finds Jane Whitefield on the verge of giving up her dangerous occupation as a guide. With her recent marriage to doctor Carey McKinnon, her priorities have shifted, but one final case demands her attention. Pete Hatcher, manager of a Las Vegas casino named Pleasures, has been accused of disloyalty and targeted for elimination by his bosses. On his trail are a pair of mentally unstable but coldly efficient killers, married couple Earl and Linda Thompson. The two steadily zero in on Hatcher’s whereabouts, in the process threatening Whitefield in her studiously guarded home base. Whitefield not only has to protect her client, but also her own life and the new life she is working to build with her husband. Unfortunately for Hatcher and Whitefield, her best and most elaborate efforts at evasion do not seem to be working against the Thompsons, and the pair of determined killers gets closer to their target with each passing moment. Booklist reviewer Emily Melton called the book “a humdinger of a thriller.” Perry “leads his readers on a galvanizing chase along a twisting, thrilling course,” commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer.
When dangerous circumstances threaten her husband’s medical mentor, Whitefield comes out of retirement to help in The Face-Changers. Jane’s life with husband Carey McKinnon is good, but when renowned plastic surgeon Richard Dahlman arrives, wounded and on the run from a murder charge, Carey asks her to ply her skills once again as a guide to help his friend. Soon, Whitefield learns that Dahlman has been framed. More disturbing to her, she realizes he has had a run-in with a group calling itself the Face-Changers, an organization deceptively trading on Jane’s good reputation in order to permanently eliminate, rather than hide, clients whom think they are going to benefit from Jane’s skills at subterfuge. With Dahlman’s life and her reputation at stake, Jane prepares for conflict with the Face-Changers and the brutal killers in their employ. Library Journal reviewer Jo Ann Vicarel commented that the novel’s “plot is full of heart-stopping suspense, Native American lore, and engaging characters.” The story is “enlivened by some smooth action writing and a remarkable mastery of escape techniques—one would hate to be a debt collector in search of the author,” remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer. The Face-Changers “could serve as a textbook on how to construct an elaborate plot that, like a Swiss watch, never lets its complex underpinnings overshadow its elegant appearance,” observed Bill Ott, writing in Booklist.
After a long hiatus, Perry brought back the character of Jane Whitefield for another adventure, titled Runner. The story once again finds Jane retired. She is living in upstate New York, where she has created a new identity as Jane McKinnon. Her quiet existence is threatened when a pregnant, twenty-year-old woman, Christine, finds her and asks for help. It becomes obvious that the threat to Christine’s life is serious when those chasing her set off a bomb at the hospital where she has contacted Jane, in an attempt to flush her out. Almost automatically, Jane flies into action in her old role, trying her best to get the girl to safety and to quickly provide her with a new identity. Doing so means evading the four-man, two-woman team that is in pursuit of Christine, dispatched to find her by her rich, abusive boyfriend. Jane is particularly motivated to protect Christine because the younger woman is pregnant, a condition Jane has longed for but never experienced. She repeatedly shows her unselfishness and courage as she works to keep Christine and the unborn baby safe. The result is a story that “amps the tension with action, suspense and raw violence,” Ben Boulden in a review for the Web site Gravetapping. “Perry is a superb writer who excels at spare descriptive writing and dialogue,” said Eleanor Bukowsky in an online Mostly Fiction review. “His sentences are lucid and straightforward and the narrative moves along swiftly as the action … steadily revs up.” Jane’s return was welcomed by Austin Camacho, who called her “a unique and fascinating character” in a review for the Web site Big Thrill. Camacho found Jane’s return in Runner “triumphant.”
Jane returns in Poison Flower, in which she manages to free James Shelby, a man wrongly convicted of killing his wife. However, Jane herself is subsequently shot and held captive by operatives of the man who really killed Shelby’s wife. After enduring torture and not giving up Shelby’s whereabouts, Jane is able to escape, and must now make sure Shelby reaches safety before the killer and his henchmen get to him. “Despite the emphasis on action. Perry ensures the characters shine,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. A Kirkus Reviews critic also had praise for this seventh series installment, but had a different assessment of character development, calling Poison Flower a “tour de force with no room for subtle characterization, complicated moral dilemmas or descriptions of anything that’s not instantly material to Jane’s job—just an hours-long jolt of pure, adrenaline-fueled plot” Booklist contributor Connie Fletcher was also impressed with the novel, remarking that it “makes you cringe, and makes you think.”
A String of Beads finds Jane drawn into her Native American roots when female leaders of the Seneca clans seek her help. One of her childhood friends, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a white man and has fled. Jane goes after him but soon realizes that she and the police are not the only ones after Jimmy. A Kirkus Reviews critic offered a varied assessment of this series addition, noting that it “supplies twists and thrills aplenty, but it’s hard to feel the suffocating kind of suspense that’s [Perry’s] stock in trade when the pursuers seem to be in more danger than the pursued.” Others had higher praise for A String of Beads. Writing in MBR Bookwatch, Gloria Feit termed this a “meticulously plotted and suspenseful tale.” Library Journal writer Deb West noted that a “breathless pace sets the tone with numerous close calls as the expert, clever heroine tries to solve the crime before Jimmy gets caught,” and Booklist reviewer Fletcher called it “first-rate suspense.”
Perry’s noir thriller Dead Aim finds a wealthy, middle-aged man named Robert Mallon a target for homicide after he attempts to save the life of a suicidal woman he meets on a beach. When Mallon’s attempt to dissuade Catherine Broward from suicide fails, he begins an investigation of her life that leads him to a remote ranch where visitors are taught lethal self-defense—and perhaps more. A Publishers Weekly critic felt that the novel “again proves a showcase for [Perry’s] considerable talents—taut prose, finely crafted scenes, solid research.” Kristine Huntley in Booklist found the work “somewhat implausible” but added that readers “might not care once the suspenseful story hits its stride.” In Library Journal, Jo Ann Vicarel likewise observed that certain elements of the story might strain credibility, but she concluded that in Perry’s hands, “the plot becomes totally engrossing and believable. The reader remains gripped in unending suspense.”
A female serial killer who easily sheds identities confounds Portland homicide detective Catherine Hobbes in Nightlife. Tanya Starling exploits the favors of wealthy men. She embarks on her career as a serial killer when she murders Dennis Poole. Thereafter, with each slaying, she discards her current identity and assumes a new one, expertly changing hair and eye color, attitude, personal habits, and the tiniest individual details of her behavior. She is particularly adept at dispatching men who recognize her from a previous identity, or who threaten to expose who she really is. Hobbes trails her as she moves from Portland to Los Angeles, always just a little short of catching the chameleon-like Starling. Catherine’s efforts are complicated by private investigator Joe Pitt, her romantic interest, and by Calvin Dunn, a thug hired by Poole’s cousin Hugo, a mobster, to kill Starling rather than bring her to justice. The story’s “intensity comes from the skillful way in which Perry lets readers in on the secrets of the serial killer,” noted Connie Fletcher in Booklist. Perry describes in detail how she discards and assumes identities, how she manipulates the men she has decided to kill, and, perhaps most disturbingly, how a calculating serial killer can be born out of relatively normal circumstances.
“Although Mr. Perry can veer dangerously close to the genre’s shopworn ingredients, he avoids pitfall after pitfall by making intelligent, methodical precision his strong suit,” noted Maslin in the New York Times Book Review. “A lot of care and ingenuity have gone into the suspenseful chessboard plotting of this story.” In this novel, Perry is “in top form as he skillfully prevents readers from seeing around every curve,” commented a Kirkus Reviews critic. A Publishers Weekly contributor concluded: “Reinterpreting conventions and confounding readers’ expectations with fascinating characters, this is Perry at his best.”
The novel Silence is the story of Wendy Harper, a restaurant owner in Los Angeles, who suffers a vicious beating with a baseball bat one night near her home. Wendy says she doesn’t know who attacked her, and she asks private investigator Jack Till to help her vanish from sight. Jack, who worked on the regular police force for twenty years, helps Wendy to put together a new identity and drop out of circulation. He hears nothing more from her for several years. Then, Wendy’s former partner is accused of murdering her when a bloody bat is found buried at his home. The evidence makes Jack suspect that Wendy is not dead at all. He thinks that instead, someone is trying to get her to make a misstep and show herself. Jack decides he must find her himself, which will require defeating the careful training he gave her to help her evade detection. Yet Jack himself is a pawn in an elaborate scheme by the man who wants Wendy to come out of hiding and be killed. The assassins assigned to kill Wendy are a married man and woman, Paul and Sylvie, who love tango dancing in their off hours. They are trailing Jack so that he will lead them to Wendy. Jack manages to stay a step ahead of them, although they kill several other people along the way. Once Jack does find Wendy, he feels she knows a good deal more than she is telling him. As the chase unfolds, “the author manages a fast pace but indulges in frequent asides to reveal the histories of his characters,” said a reviewer in the online Curled Up with a Good Book. The reviewer found some of the characters a little unbelievable, but credited Perry with successfully concocting “an intricate mix of mayhem, extravagance and costly blunders” to create a novel full of surprises. Bukowsky, reviewing the book in Mostly Fiction, wrote that Silence is “a sardonically witty and compulsively readable thriller” that is “satisfying, unpredictable, and laced with delicious irony.”
Perry created a new cast of characters for his novel Fidelity, a story that takes in the murder of a private investigator and his widowed wife’s quest to evade his killers, who have also targeted her. Emily Kramer was only one of the women in her husband Phil’s life. After he is gunned down, Emily must struggle to find out the truth about what happened to him, and also to protect her own life. In the course of doing so, she learns that Phil had many secrets, which he kept not only from her but also from his business associates. Meanwhile Jerry Hobart—the man who killed Phil and is assigned to kill Emily—begins to doubt the motives of his employer, Ted Perry, a rich playboy. The story shifts perspective from time to time, narrated in turn by Emily, Jerry, and Ted, each of whom only understands part of the truth. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that the book’s pacing was somewhat slow, but stated: “Perry intrigues as always with spare, intelligent prose.” Fidelity shows Perry to be something of a “literary alchemist,” able to blend diverse elements to create a satisfying crime novel, stated Ott in a Booklist review. He is one of the “grand masters” of crime fiction, according to Ott, and Fidelity is a showcase of his “fine writing.”
In Strip, when low-level hood and strip-club owner Manco Kapak is robbed, he vows revenge and sends thugs to track down the thief. In the event, they finger the wrong man, Joe Carver, who has just arrived in Los Angeles looking for a new identity and with enough cash in hand to make Kapak’s goons suspicious. When Carver cannot convince Kapak he is not the masked man who robbed him, he decides to go for his own revenge, stealing Kapak’s company credit card and running up charges. Meanwhile, the real robber, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend continue to rob Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser of the LAPD is on the case, but he has problems of his own, including financing the college education of his two oldest children in each of his bigamous marriages without either mother getting suspicious. Library Journal reviewer Ron Terpening called the novel “pure, unadulterated fun, sure to please not only the many fans of this master craftsman but also lovers of imaginative, character-driven thrillers.” A Publishers Weekly contributor also termed this “escapist reading at its best,” while a Kirkus Reviews critic felt that the “first half of this shaggy, violent tale is a miracle of dead-eyed invention.”
Perry teams up with thriller writer Clive Cussler on a pair of novels in Cussler’s “Fargo” series about treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo. In The Tombs, the husband and wife team follow a trail through Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan in search of the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun and its gold treasures. “The story moves at a brisk clip, leaping from location to location, with an assortment of colorful villains,” noted Booklist reviewer David Pitt. Similarly, a Publishers Weekly contributor noted: “This adventure series stands as one of the crown jewels in the Cussler empire.”
Mayan Secrets, also part of the “Fargo” series, finds Sam and Remi Fargo in Mexico where they discover a Mayan book with secrets about humankind so powerful that many have died to possess it. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that Sam and Remi Fargo “narrowly escape many attempts on their lives en route to the thrilling climax” of this “engaging” novel. Pitt, writing again in Booklist, pointed out that the “Fargo” series “will provide fine entertainment for adventure fans—as long as Perry stays involved.”
Private investigator Jack Till, the protagonist of Perry’s earlier novel Silence, is reprised for his 2013 work, The Boyfriend. Here Till is hired by the parents of Catherine Hamilton to track down her killer. Catherine was a high-end prostitute, and Till’s search for clues and suspects takes him through call-girl territory from Los Angeles to Boston and Miami. Soon, he begins to wonder if he is not after a serial killer, as he discovers that a number of prostitutes who had similar features to Catherine have also been killed. This “guaranteed winner,” according to Library Journal writer Donna Bettencourt, is “another fast-paced thriller with unpredictable twists and turns.” Ott, writing in Booklist, was also impressed with the novel, noting: “It’s nothing new to call Perry a master of the genre, but it’s no less true for being widely acknowledged.” Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews critic stated: “There’s all the pleasure a master craftsman can provide every inch of the way,” and a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “Perry again proves himself a master stylist and plotter.”
In Forty Thieves, Perry introduces Sid and Ronnie Abel, former LAPD detectives who are now private detectives. They go up against another unlikely married couple, Ed and Nicole Hoyt, who are hired assassins. The confrontation comes about when both couples are hired to investigate or do damage control on the same murder case. The murder victim, James Ballantine, was a middle-aged African American who worked as a research scientist for a prestigious company. Ballantine’s employers hire the Abels to keep hunting for the killer after the police have put the case on the back burner. Meanwhile, the mysterious employer of the Hoyts wants the facts surrounding Ballantine’s execution-style death to remain hidden. Reviewing the novel in Library Journal, West noted that this “fantastic stand-alone thriller presents two intriguing couples whose relationships are as compelling as the action that drives them.” Ott also had praise in his Booklist review, commenting that Perry’s novels “absolutely resist easy categorization, thoroughly melding character and plot, light and dark, and totally immersing the reader in the irresistible narrative.” A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked: “Perry tosses in several hairpin plot twists that culminate in a satisfyingly surprising conclusion.”
The Old Man centers on Dan Chase, a former army intelligence officer who has lived in his small Vermont town for thirty-five years. Chase, a widower, lives a quiet life with his two dogs. But he harbors a secret. When he left the army, he did so to go into hiding, as he had stolen nearly $20 million during a mission in Libya. Assigned to deliver the money to Faris Hamzah, who was expected to use the money to fund rebel fighters, Chase watched as the man instead used the finances to buy a Rolls-Royce and fund a small army of personal body guards. Frustrated, Chase took the remainder of the money and returned to the U.S. When he attempted to return it to the government, they would not take it and he was informed that he is a wanted criminal.
Now, thirty-five years later, his past is finally catching up with him. In his time in hiding, Chase carefully invested the money and set up a handful of false identities and bank accounts. All the while he has been anticipating the inevitable, that he will be found and his seekers will likely attempt to assassinate him. This happens one day when two men break into his house, determined to take his life. Chase’s military background is far from rusty, and after quickly dispelling of the two men, he goes on the run.
The book then becomes a fast-paced adventure, with Chase driving to Chicago to take on a new identity with a woman he knows there. As Henry and Marcia Dixon, the two flee from their pursuers, finding excitement and romance along the way. A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote that the backstory “comes across as contrived and unnecessary,” while also noting, “the unconventionality of the older action hero is refreshing, and the tension throughout is palpable.”
Dick Stahl, owner of a private security company and former head of the IAPD Bomb Squad, is an expert in explosive devices, but as far as he is concerned, his bomb squad days are happily behind him. This changes, however, when he gets a call from Deputy Chief David Ogden, commander of the LAPD’s Counterterrorism and Special Operations Bureau. Ogden details the grim situation at hand. The lives of the commander of the EOS and thirteen of his bomb-disposal specialists were taken in a massive bomb explosion in an L.A. home. Ogden has come to Stahl to seek out his help, imploring him to come back to the force and use his expertise to uncover the madman behind the explosion. Bill Ott in Booklist wrote: “Perry is in straight-ahead thriller mode here, constructing a gripping, clock-ticking plot.”
Stahl agrees, and his skills as a bomb specialists are impressively displayed. He suspects that the bomb maker designs his weapons with disposal specialists in mind; he or she predicts what the specialist will do to disarm the bomb, and then turns that action into a trigger. Despite his best efforts, though, the bomb maker stays one step ahead of him. Through the interactions between the two and Stahl’s attempts to understand the maker through the bombs he or she creates, an image emerges of an unstable, highly intelligent villian.
While Stahl expects to only stay with the Bomb Squad for this one assignment, a growing romance with fellow specialist Sgt. Diane Hines makes him question his initial intention. A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote, “detailed descriptions of the bomb maker’s devices and Stahl’s methods to disarm them are fascinating,” while also asserting that Perry put “considerably less effort into developing his characters.”
Perry once told CA: “Although I’m guilty of tending to portray criminals in a sympathetic light, it’s certainly not something I set out to do as a philosophical statement about crime. Instead, it has its genesis in a collection of things I believe about storytelling. The first is that a work of fiction is a construction built to stimulate the reader’s curiosity as well as his sympathy. The world of criminals is full of opportunities to show surprising motivations, unusual forms of jeopardy, and humorous or uncomfortable situations the reader, unless he’s very unfortunate, will not encounter in the course of his own life.
“This leads me to the second—the question of verisimilitude. Novels that deal in physical danger must contain characters the reader can, without undue strain, believe might naturally find themselves standing alone in life-threatening trouble. This is most likely to happen to people who are rebels or outsiders. The adventure novel whose protagonist is an honest librarian or insurance salesman who, while minding his own business, suddenly finds himself hunted by organized crime, foreign intelligence services, and the police, always strains credibility a bit. This is particularly true when, as usually happens in the course of these novels, he outwits them or outfights them.
“The most accurate way of describing what I’ve done in my … novels is that I’ve tried to find ways of representing the complexity of events. Good people sometimes do bad things in the belief that their actions are necessary, and bad people sometimes do good things for selfish reasons. There is also an epistemological element to crime novels. Any view of the world is an act of interpretation, meaning that we collect information and assign relative weights to pieces of evidence that can appear to be contradictory. My narratives have followed both the fortunes of the criminals and the attempts of the authorities to figure out what is going on inside the boundaries of the novel and how to deal with it. Part of the fun is the disparity between events and the interpretations a reasonable, logical person might give them. Criminals give a writer a chance to introduce confusion and disruption into the little world he’s invented, and to test its limits.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Armchair Detective, spring, 1994, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 143.
Book, January, 2001, Randy Michael Signor, review of Death Benefits, p. 79.
Booklist, March 1, 1992, Mary Carroll, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 1163; May 1, 1997, Emily Melton, review of Shadow Woman, p. 1462; April 15, 1998, Bill Ott, review of The Face-Changers, p. 1392; September 1, 1999, Bill Ott, review of Blood Money, p. 8; October 15, 2000, Connie Fletcher, review of Death Benefits, p. 424; December 1, 2001, Carrie Bissey, review of Pursuit, p. 633; October 1, 2002, Kristine Huntley, review of Dead Aim, p. 275; September 15, 2005, Connie Fletcher, review of Nightlife, p. 7; February 1, 2008, Bill Ott, review of Fidelity, p. 31; December 1, 2008, Bill Ott, review of Runner, p. 4; February 1, 2012, Connie Fletcher, review of Poison Flower, p. 1; September 15, 2012, David Pitt, review of The Tombs, p. 31; February 1, 2013, Bill Ott, review of The Boyfriend, p. 27; July 1, 2013, Bill Ott, review of Mayan Secrets, p. 38; November 1, 2014, Connie Fletcher, review A String of Beads, p. 29; December 1, 2015, Bill Ott, review of Forty Thieves, p. 28, January 1, 2017, Bill Ott, review of The Old Man, p. 46; November 15, 2017, Bill Ott, review of The Bomb Maker, p. 25.
Entertainment Weekly, July 11, 1997, Mark Harris, review of Shadow Woman, p. 62; January 7, 2000, Tom De Haven, review of Blood Money, p. 60.
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 1992, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 211; February 1, 1996, review of Dance for the Dead, p. 167; April 15, 1998, review of The Face-Changers, p. 520; November 1, 1999, review of Blood Money, p. 1669; November 15, 2000, review of Death Benefits, p. 1567; December 15, 2005, review of Nightlife, p. 1296; June 1, 2007, review of Silence; April 15, 2008, review of Fidelity; January 15, 2010; review of Strip; April 1, 2011, review of The Informant; February 1, 2012, review of Poison Flower; February 1, 2013, review of The Boyfriend; November 15, 2014, review A String of Beads; October 15, 2015, review of Forty Thieves; October 15, 2016, review of The Old Man; October 15, 2017, review of The Bomb Maker.
Kliatt, September, 1998, review of Vanishing Act, p. 6.
Library Journal, April 15, 1992, A.J. Wright, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 122; May 1, 1997, Rex E. Klett, review of Shadow Woman, p. 143; May 15, 1998, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Face-Changers, p. 116; October 1, 1999, Ronnie H. Terpening, review of Blood Money, p. 136; October 1, 2002, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Dead Aim, p. 129; December 1, 2005, Francine Fialkoff, review of Nightlife, p. 115; June 15, 2007, Craig Shufelt, review of Silence, p. 63; November 15, 2008, Ron Terpening, review of Runner, p. 65; March 1, 2010, Ron Terpening, review of Strip, p. 79; April 15, 2011, Ron Terpening, review of The Informant, p. 88; December 1, 2011, Ron Terpening, review of Poison Flower, p. 117; March 15, 2013, Donna Bettencourt, review of The Boyfriend, p. 103; December 1, 2014, Deb West, review A String of Beads, p. 96; November 15, 2015, Deb West, review of Forty Thieves, p. 79, November 1, 2016, Barbara Conaty, review of The Old Man, p. 78.
Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1985, Dick Lochte, review of Big Fish, p. 16.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 21, 1996, Dick Lochte, review of Dance for the Dead, p. 4.
MBR Bookwatch, December, 2015, Gloria Feit, review of A String of Beads.
New York Times, May 3, 1982, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of The Butcher’s Boy, p. C20; September 27, 1983, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of Metzger’s Dog, p. C16; May 7, 1992, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. C20; January 23, 1995, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, review of Vanishing Act, p. C16.
New York Times Book Review, August 22, 1982, John Casey, review of The Butcher’s Boy, p. 10; April 30, 1989, Newgate Callendar, review of Island, p. 41; May 24, 1992, Marilyn Stasio, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 25; February 5, 1995, Marilyn Stasio, review of Vanishing Act, p. 30; May 5, 1996, Marilyn Stasio, review of Dance for the Dead, p. 29; July 5, 1998, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Face-Changers, p. 16; January 9, 2000, Marilyn Stasio, review of Blood Money; January 28, 2001, Marilyn Stasio, review of Death Benefits, p. 16; December 23, 2001, Marilyn Stasio, review of Pursuit, p. 13; March 6, 2006, Janet Maslin, “The Lady Is a Serial Killer,” review of Nightlife; July 8, 2007, “Assassination Tango,” review of Silence, p. 21; May 4, 2011, Janet Maslin, review of The Informant.
People, January 14, 2002, review of Pursuit, p. 39.
Publishers Weekly, March 2, 1992, review of Sleeping Dogs, p. 50; April 21, 1997, review of Shadow Woman, p. 63; April 13, 1998, review of The Face-Changers, p. 48; October 18, 1999, review of Blood Money, p. 69; October 23, 2000, “What’s Your Motive?,” p. 43; November 6, 2000, review of Death Benefits, p. 69; December 3, 2001, review of Pursuit, p. 42; September 23, 2002, review of Dead Aim, p. 46; September 26, 2005, review of Nightlife, p. 60; May 28, 2007, review of Silence, p. 35; April 7, 2008, review of Fidelity, p. 41; November 17, 2008, review of Runner, p. 41; March 1, 2010, review of Strip, p. 32; March 7, 2011, review of The Informant, p. 43; December 19, 2011, review of Poison Flower, p. 32; July 2, 2012, review of The Tombs, p. 46; January 28, 2013, review of The Boyfriend, p. 152; July 1, 2013, review of Mayan Secrets, p. 67; November 3, 2014, review A String of Beads, p. 88; October 5, 2015, review of Forty Thieves, p. 35; October 17, 2016, review of The Old Man, p. 51; October 23, 2017, review of The Bomb Maker, p. 65.
Time, June 30, 1997, John Skow, review of Shadow Woman, p. 72.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), January 17, 1988, George V. Higgins, review of Island, p. 3.
Virginia Quarterly Review, winter, 1998, review of Shadow Woman, p. 21.
Washington Post Book World, July 18, 1982, Jean M. White, review of The Butcher’s Boy, p. 6; September 18, 1983, Lawrence Block, “Cats, Crooks, and Cocaine,” review of Metzger’s Dog, p. 9; June 16, 1985, Lawrence Block, review of Big Fish, p. 8; June 30, 1996, Pat Dowell, “A Sleuth with Serenity,” review of Dance for the Dead, p. 6; July 12, 1998, review of The Face-Changers, p. 8.
ONLINE
Big Thrill, http://www.thrillerwriters.org/ (June 19, 2009), Austin Camacho, review of Runner.
Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (September 7, 2012), Judy Gigstad, review of The Tombs; (March 8, 2013), Joe Hartlaub, review of The Boyfriend; (September 27, 2013), Judy Gigstad, review of Mayan Secrets; (January 8, 2016), Joe Hartlaub, review of Forty Thieves.
Curled Up with a Good Book, http://www.curledup.com/ (June 19, 2009), reviews of Silence and Fidelity.
Gravetapping, http://gravetapping.blogspot.com/ (June 19, 2009), Ben Boulden, review of Runner.
Identity Theory.com, http://www.identitytheory.com/ (June 19, 2009), interview with Thomas Perry.
Men Reading Books, http://menreadingbooks.blogspot.com/ (September 24, 2011), review of The Informant.
Monsters and Critics, http://www.monstersandcritics.com/ (June 19, 2009), “New Thomas Perry Novel: Fidelity.”
Mostly Fiction, http://www.mostlyfiction.com/ (June 19, 2009), Eleanor Bukowsky, review of Silence; (June 29, 2009), Eleanor Bukowsky, review of Runner.
Mysterious Reviews, http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/ (June 19, 2009), review of Silence.
New York Times Book Review, http://www.nytimes.com/ (December 31, 2015), Marilyn Stasio, review of Forty Thieves.
RT Book Reviews, http://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (June 19, 2009), Laurie Davie, review of Blood Money.
Thomas Perry Website, http://www.thomasperryauthor.com (August 26, 2016).
Series
Butcher's Boy
1. The Butcher's Boy (1982)
2. Sleeping Dogs (1992)
3. The Informant (2011)
thumbthumbthumb
Jane Whitefield
1. Vanishing Act (1994)
2. Dance for the Dead (1996)
3. Shadow Woman (1997)
4. The Face-Changers (1998)
5. Blood Money (1999)
6. Runner (2009)
7. Poison Flower (2012)
8. A String of Beads (2014)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
Jack Till
1. Silence (2007)
2. The Boyfriend (2013)
thumbthumb
Fargo Adventure (with Clive Cussler)
4. The Tombs (2012)
5. The Mayan Secrets (2013)
thumbthumb
Novels
Metzger's Dog (1983)
Big Fish (1985)
Island (1988)
Death Benefits (2001)
Pursuit (2001)
Dead Aim (2002)
Nightlife (2006)
Fidelity (2008)
Strip (2010)
Forty Thieves (2015)
The Old Man (2017)
The Bomb Maker (2018)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
Omnibus
The Best of Thomas Perry (2009)
thumb
Series contributed to
Bibliomysteries
The Book of the Lion (2015)
THOMAS PERRY is the author of 23 novels including the Jane Whitefield series (Vanishing Act, Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, Runner, Poison Flower, and A String of Beads), Death Benefits, and Pursuit, the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for best novel. He won the Edgar for The Butcher's Boy, and Metzger's Dog was a New York Times Notable Book. The Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association included Vanishing Act in its "100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century," and Nightlife was a New York Times bestseller. Metzger's Dog was voted one of NPR's 100 Killer Thrillers--Best Thrillers Ever.
Thomas Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. He lives in Southern California. His website: www.thomasperryauthor.com
Thomas Perry (author)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Perry
Born 1947
Tonawanda, New York,
United States
Occupation Writer
Genre Mystery, Thriller
Notable works Butcher's Boy, Metzger's Dog, Jane Whitefield Series
Thomas Perry (born 1947) is an American mystery and thriller novelist. He received a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel.
Contents [hide]
1 Writings
2 Biography
3 Works
3.1 The Butcher's Boy series
3.2 Jane Whitefield series
3.3 John Walker series
3.4 Jack Till series
3.5 Other novels
4 References
5 External links
Writings[edit]
Perry's work has covered a variety of fictional suspense starting with The Butcher's Boy, which received a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel, followed by Metzger's Dog, Big Fish, Island, and Sleeping Dogs. He then launched the critically acclaimed Jane Whitefield series: Vanishing Act (chosen as one of the "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association), Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, Runner, and Poison Flower. The New York Times selected Nightlife for its best seller selection. From this point, Perry has elected to develop a non-series list of mysteries with Death Benefits, Pursuit (which won a Gumshoe Award in 2002), Dead Aim, Night Life, Fidelity, and Strip. In The Informant, released in 2011, Perry brought back the hit-man character first introduced in The Butcher's Boy and later the protagonist in Sleeping Dogs.
Biography[edit]
Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York, in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has been a laborer, maintenance man, commercial fisherman, weapons mechanic, university administrator and teacher, as well as a television writer and producer (Simon & Simon, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek: The Next Generation). To date, Perry has written 24 novels with publication of Old Man in 2017. He lives in Southern California with his wife Jo (ne Lee) and two children.[1]
Works[edit]
The Butcher's Boy series[edit]
# Title Publication Date ISBN
1 The Butcher's Boy 1982 0-684-17455-3
2 Sleeping Dogs 1992 978-0-679-41064-5
3 The Informant 2011 978-0-547-56933-8
Jane Whitefield series[edit]
# Title Publication Date ISBN
1 Vanishing Act 1995 978-0-679-43536-0
2 Dance for the Dead 1996 978-0-679-44911-9
3 Shadow Woman 1997 978-0-679-45302-4
4 The Face-Changers 1998 978-0-679-45303-1
5 Blood Money 1999 978-0-679-45304-8
6 Runner 2009 978-0-15-101528-3
7 Poison Flower 2012 978-0-8021-2605-4
8 A String of Beads 2015 978-0-8021-2329-9
John Walker series[edit]
# Title Publication Date ISBN
1 Death Benefits 2001 978-0-679-45305-5
Jack Till series[edit]
# Title Publication Date ISBN
1 Silence 2007 978-0-15-101289-3
2 The Boyfriend 2013 978-0-8021-2606-1
Other novels[edit]
Title Publication Date ISBN
Metzger's Dog 1983 978-0-6841-7948-2
Big Fish 1985 978-0-684-18367-1
Island 1987 978-0-399-13327-5
Pursuit 2001 978-0-679-45306-2
Dead Aim 2002 1-4000-6003-6
Nightlife 2006 1-4000-6004-4
Fidelity 2008 978-0-15-101292-3
Strip 2010 978-0-15-101522-1
Forty Thieves 2016 978-0-8021-2452-4
The Old Man 2017 978-0802125866
Thomas Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. He lives in Southern California.
Perry is the author of 25 novels including the Jane Whitefield series (Vanishing Act, Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, Runner, Poison Flower, and String of Beads), Death Benefits, and Pursuit, the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for best novel.
He won the Edgar for The Butcher’s Boy, and Metzger’s Dog was a New York Times Notable Book. The Independent Mystery Booksellers’ Association included Vanishing Act in its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century,” and Nightlife was a New York Times bestseller.
Metzger’s Dog was voted one of NPR’s 100 Killer Thrillers--Best Thrillers Ever. Strip was chosen as a New York Times Notable Crime Book for 2010, and The Informant was a New York Times Notable Crime Book for 2011 and won the Barry Award for Best Thriller, 2011. Poison Flower was chosen among Booklist’s Best Crime Novels of 2013.
The Bomb Maker
Bill Ott
Booklist. 114.6 (Nov. 15, 2017): p25.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Bomb Maker.
By Thomas Perry.
Jan. 2018. 384p. Mysterious, $26 (9780802127488).
Dick Stahl, owner of a private security company and former head of the IAPD Bomb Squad, is happy to be on his own, but that all changes when two bombs explode in a private house, killing 14 current bomb squad members. Summoned to take over the squad until the bomber is caught, Stahl quickly realizes that the man he faces is no ordinary garage bomb maker. Perry is in straight-ahead thriller mode here, constructing a gripping, clock-ticking plot, awash in fascinating details about bomb making and detection, but he takes his foot off the throttle just enough to give us glimpses into the personalities of the bomber, whose psyche is as unstable as the explosives he arms, and of Stahl, who has personal issues of his own, not the least of which is his dangerous decision to begin a relationship with one of the bomb squad members. Perry, known for his skill at balancing light and dark, comedy and tragedy, pretty much leaves the light side alone here, but readers won't have time to notice, so enveloping is the main story line.--Bill Ott
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ott, Bill. "The Bomb Maker." Booklist, 15 Nov. 2017, p. 25. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517441732/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=41732e8f. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A517441732
The Bomb Maker
Publishers Weekly. 264.43 (Oct. 23, 2017): p65.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Bomb Maker
Thomas Perry. Mysterious, $26 (384p) ISBN 9780-8021-2748-8
An unnamed bomber wreaks havoc in this exciting if frustrating thriller from bestseller Perry (The Old Man). When a large cache of explosives blows up under a Los Angeles house, killing the 14 members of the LAPD Bomb Squad at the scene, Dick Stahl, a former bomb squad captain, takes over the squad on a temporary basis. On his first day, Stahl and his team must deal with an intricate car bomb, which he leads them in disarming. That evening, Sgt. Diane Hines, who drove Stahl to the site of the car bomb, arrives at his condo, where the two begin a relationship that grows over the course of the book. The detailed descriptions of the bomb maker's devices and Stahl's methods to disarm them are fascinating, but Perry puts considerably less effort into developing his characters. Stahl is annoyingly perfect, and his subordinates, who never attain his expertise, suffer in their careers as a consequence. The motives of the bomb maker and his mysterious backers remain vague. Still, action junkies will be rewarded. Agent: Mel Berger, WME. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Bomb Maker." Publishers Weekly, 23 Oct. 2017, p. 65. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A512184170/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=eb0a1860. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A512184170
Perry, Thomas: THE BOMB MAKER
Kirkus Reviews. (Oct. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Perry, Thomas THE BOMB MAKER Mysterious Press (Adult Fiction) $26.00 1, 2 ISBN: 978-0-8021-2748-8
The Explosive Ordnance Unit of the LAPD battles a methodical bomber whose principal target seems to be them.
The first device in the unnamed title character's campaign is so successful that it takes out the commander of the EOS and half his bomb-disposal specialists in a blast that, in retrospect, was clearly designed to do exactly that. Cowed and humbled, Deputy Chief David Ogden, commander of the LAPD's Counterterrorism and Special Operations Bureau, goes hat in hand to Dick Stahl, ex-soldier and ex-cop, the former EOS chief who left to found No-Fail Security. Reluctantly reunited with his old unit, Stahl is certain from the beginning about his adversary's modus: "predicting what a trained bomb technician will do to render the device safe, and turn[ing] that action into a trigger." In a series of sequences expertly designed to keep you up long past your bedtime, he enjoys a good deal of success by resolutely refusing to do what his instincts demand. Stahl thinks his return will be only temporary, but his unexpected affair with EOS member Sgt. Diane Hines makes him so determined to protect her that he can't leave the squad. Meantime, awkward complications pile up. TV news reporter Gloria Hedlund gets wind of the forbidden romance and won't leave it alone. The bomber is approached by terrorists who'd really, really like him to design some devices for a big day they have in mind--and, while they think of it, would like him to purchase them some AK-47's as well. And of course he keeps setting those bombs, some of which are detected and disarmed, others not.
Perry (The Old Man, 2017, etc.) provides a hero worth caring about, a villain who stays one step ahead of him, and a supporting cast designed to keep up the nerve-shredding suspense. If the ending feels like a letdown, that's because this ultimate professional rivalry can't possibly continue forever.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Perry, Thomas: THE BOMB MAKER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509243992/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=92320073. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509243992
The Old Man
Bill Ott
Booklist. 113.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2017): p46.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* The Old Man. By Thomas Perry. Jan. 2017. 400p. Mysterious, $26 (9780802125866).
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
There are thriller heroes like Lee Child's Jack Reacher or Alex Berenson's John Wells whose combination of cunning and physical prowess makes them intensely appealing fantasy figures. And then there are thriller heroes like Thomas Perry's Old Man, who, at 60, has lost most of whatever physical attributes he once possessed but who can still think his way out of jams that would leave the rest of us whimpering for mercy. This is hardly the first time that Perry has written about a seeming Everyman with a hidden wealth of special training and ratiocinative ability, but the Old Man, who has many names on call and changes them as situations dictate, is surely one of the most appealing. A long time ago, he found himself in an untenable position in the Middle East but managed to escape with his life and a pot of CIA money. Hiding was his only way to stay alive, and so he has managed to do, until now. After decades of eluding but never exhausting his would-be assassins, the Old Man realizes he has no choice but to go on the offensive. This one's all about suspense and narrative propulsion, but the Old Man will remind Perry devotees of Chinese Gordon, the wacky hero of Metzger's Dog (1983), Perry's Edgar-winning comic caper novel. Both men are crazy good thinkers and planners and improvisers, and it's pure pleasure to watch them at work. Another delight from a writer who never disappoints.--Bill Ott
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ott, Bill. "The Old Man." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2017, p. 46. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479077990/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=42932613. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479077990
Perry, Thomas. The Old Man
Barbara Conaty
Library Journal. 141.18 (Nov. 1, 2016): p78.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Perry, Thomas. The Old Man. Mysterious: Grove Atlantic. Jan. 2017. 400p. ISBN 9780802125866. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780802189769. F
About 30 years ago, an American operative transferred $20 million to a Libyan strongman obliged to send it on to rebels in Libya. The strongman reneged; the American clawed back the cash. His army intel contacts cut him off and the man disappeared off the grid. A reckoning comes calling in small-town Vermont where he now lives as Dan Chassen, an apparent retiree with two dogs and a grown daughter. Thriller junkies will relish the smart and slippery plotting of this baby boomer hero. Fit, strong, a dog lover, and a family man, Chassen outthinks and outfights his enemies. VERDICT Revered as a master of suspense with many best sellers (Forty Thieves) and an Edgar Award (for The Butcher's Boy), Perry plays his plot with virtuosic deftness, thrilling readers to the core. [See Prepub Alert, 7/18/16; nine-city tour; library marketing.]--Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Conaty, Barbara. "Perry, Thomas. The Old Man." Library Journal, 1 Nov. 2016, p. 78. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A467830350/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=902f9537. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A467830350
The Old Man
Publishers Weekly. 263.42 (Oct. 17, 2016): p51.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Old Man
Thomas Perry. Mysterious, $26 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2586-6
Former army intelligence officer Dan Chase, the hero of this engrossing if not flawless thriller from bestseller Perry (Forty Thieves), has lived in a small Vermont town with his two dogs for 35 years. A widower, he's been in hiding after allegedly stealing $20 million during a mission in Libya. After assassins fail to kill the "old man" (he's 60), Chase--who has been preparing for such a situation for decades--goes on the run. With numerous false identities and bank accounts across the country, Chase attempts to stay alive long enough to identify exactly who is trying to kill him. Are his pursuers agents of the U.S. government, Libyan operatives, or some other force that has developed an interest in him and the missing money? The unconventionality of the older action hero is refreshing, and the tension throughout is palpable, but the back story of a secondary character--his landlady in the Chicago area--comes across as contrived and unnecessary. Still, readers will eagerly keep turning the pages. Agent: Mel Berger; WME. Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Old Man." Publishers Weekly, 17 Oct. 2016, p. 51. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A468700024/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=faf6ff3c. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468700024
Thomas Perry: THE OLD MAN
Kirkus Reviews. (Oct. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Thomas Perry THE OLD MAN Mysterious Press (Adult Fiction) 26.00 ISBN: 978-0-8021-2586-6
Perry (Forty Thieves, 2016, etc.) drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone about a long-ago Army intelligence officer whose less-than-grateful nation just won’t let him be.Dispatched to Libya a generation ago to deliver $20 million to Faris Hamzah for distribution to rebel fighters, Michael Kohler watched as Hamzah sat on the money, purchasing a Rolls-Royce, financing a cadre of personal bodyguards, and doing everything except pass the bundle to the intended recipients. So Kohler grabbed the rest of the money and hightailed it back to the USA. His offers to return the money to the National Security Agency fell on the deaf ears of bureaucrats who informed him that he was a wanted criminal who’d better turn himself in and face the music. So Kohler went off the grid as Dan Chase, of Norwich, Vermont, invested the money cautiously, and set up several false identities, just in case. Ten years after his wife died, his past catches up with him in the shape of two Arab-looking men who break into his house while he’s supposed to be asleep. After taking care of business with brutal efficiency, he goes on the lam once more. As Peter Caldwell he drives to Chicago, where he meets Zoe McDonald, who’s quickly drawn to him. They make some sweet memories together as Henry and Marcia Dixon; then it’s time once more for Henry to leave. Julian Carson, the special ops contractor assigned to locate Dixon and set him up for the kill, ends up sympathizing with him instead—especially after he helps arrange the return of the $20 million and sees that it doesn’t lessen the pressure on Dixon—and passes on the information that allows the Dixons to escape, though it doesn’t exactly feel like an escape to Marcia. They retreat to an isolated cabin in Big Bear; Carson quits the assignment and marries his Arkansas sweetheart. Both men wait for the inevitable, and in the fullness of time, it arrives with guns ablaze.
Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying. Liam Neeson would be perfect in the title role.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Thomas Perry: THE OLD MAN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A466551523/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=27104319. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466551523
Perry, Thomas: THE OLD MAN
Kirkus Reviews. (Oct. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Perry, Thomas THE OLD MAN Mysterious Press (Adult Fiction) $26.00 1, 3 ISBN: 978-0-8021-2586-6
Perry (Forty Thieves, 2016, etc.) drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone about a long-ago Army intelligence officer whose less-than-grateful nation just won't let him be.Dispatched to Libya a generation ago to deliver $20 million to Faris Hamzah for distribution to rebel fighters, Michael Kohler watched as Hamzah sat on the money, purchasing a Rolls-Royce, financing a cadre of personal bodyguards, and doing everything except pass the bundle to the intended recipients. So Kohler grabbed the rest of the money and hightailed it back to the USA. His offers to return the money to the National Security Agency fell on the deaf ears of bureaucrats who informed him that he was a wanted criminal who'd better turn himself in and face the music. So Kohler went off the grid as Dan Chase, of Norwich, Vermont, invested the money cautiously, and set up several false identities, just in case. Ten years after his wife died, his past catches up with him in the shape of two Arab-looking men who break into his house while he's supposed to be asleep. After taking care of business with brutal efficiency, he goes on the lam once more. As Peter Caldwell he drives to Chicago, where he meets Zoe McDonald, who's quickly drawn to him. They make some sweet memories together as Henry and Marcia Dixon; then it's time once more for Henry to leave. Julian Carson, the special ops contractor assigned to locate Dixon and set him up for the kill, ends up sympathizing with him instead--especially after he helps arrange the return of the $20 million and sees that it doesn't lessen the pressure on Dixon--and passes on the information that allows the Dixons to escape, though it doesn't exactly feel like an escape to Marcia. They retreat to an isolated cabin in Big Bear; Carson quits the assignment and marries his Arkansas sweetheart. Both men wait for the inevitable, and in the fullness of time, it arrives with guns ablaze. Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying. Liam Neeson would be perfect in the title role.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Perry, Thomas: THE OLD MAN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A466329273/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c7eb1aff. Accessed 11 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466329273